Evangelistary of Fulda

The pages of this codex, manufactured in Mainz and completed in Fulda, record the suffragan bishops’ oath of loyalty to patriarch Poppone.

The Evangelistary contains some integrations witnessing the history of the manuscript: between 1028 and 1031 it presumably arrived at Aquileia, as it can be inferred by the final additions (f. 151r-v). These are the clauses of obedience to patriarch Poppone (1019-1042) sworn by the bishops Adolf of Vicenza, John of Pola and Rodbert of Concordia, and to Eberhard (1043-1048) by the bishop Martin of Mantua. Upon the patriarchy suppression in 1751, this manuscript, together with others, passed from the Chapter of Aquileia to the Chapter of Udine. The script and miniature examination allows to hypothesise the manuscript manufacturing at Mainz in the first third of the tenth century and its later completion at Fulda. The exclusively ornamental decoration includes the incipit pages in gilded script on purple background within an architecturally structured frame of bearing columns with an overlaying architrave; such decorated pages highlight the festivities of Christmas (ff. 1r-v, 2r, 3r) and Easter (ff. 70r-v).